Publishers Weekly - January 18, 2016

COLORING KITS

Another permutation of the coloring trend is the emergence of coloring kits, which bundle coloring books with crayons, colored pencils, or pens. Kindelsperger of Quarto says the success of kits is because they’re “so easy to buy and get started. It’s a great, easy gift, and it’s also a great self-purchase.” Quarto has two portable 2016 coloring kits by coauthors Lacy Mucklow and Angela Porter: Portable Color Me Happy Coloring Kit and Portable Color Me Calm Coloring Kit (Jan., $15.99).

Kathleen Schmidt, director of marketing and publicity for Running Press, says the publisher has seen great success with its mini-kits, which are only a few square inches, and is expecting a good run through the spring and Mother’s Day promotions. “It’s a trend I don’t see going away anytime soon,” she says.

BEYOND COLORING

While publishers keep churning out coloring titles, many are thinking about how coloring can be a gateway to other artistic pursuits.

Draw Your Big Idea: The Ultimate Creativity Tool for Turning Thoughts into Action and Nature (March, $14.99) by designer and illustrator Andrew Fox and Drawing Geometric Kit by Tilman Zitzmann (March, $19.99).

CREATIVITY

The field journal Do Big Small Things by Bruce Poon Tip (Running Press, April,

$18) allows users to record their adventures and log the various ways little things can make up the big picture. Failed It: Buying This Book Is the Best Mistake You Will Make by Erik Kessels (Phaidon, April, $12.95) features photographs of failures in advertising, product design, and signage to remind creative types that mistakes are a part of the process.

Advice from My 80-Year-Old Self by artist Susan O’Malley (Chronicle, Feb., $16.95)

features the results of a project in which O’Malley, who recently died, asked more than 100 people, “What advice would your 80-year-old self give you?” and transformed their responses into vibrant text-based images. It’s a book that Bach says “fits so nicely into that inspirational gift message that people like to give and receive.”

TRAVEL/NATURE

For those who like the great outdoors, there’s How to Be a Wildflower by Katie Daisy (Chronicle, March,

$19.95) an illustrated field guide encouraging self-discovery through encounters with nature, and The Wander Society by Keri Smith (Penguin, March, $20), based on the practice of enjoying unscheduled time.

Insider Brooklyn: A Curated Guide to New York City’s Most Stylish Borough by Rachel Felder (Harper Design, June, $26.99) takes readers on a meandering trip through one of the world’s hippest destinations, and A Woman’s Guide to the Wild: Your Complete Outdoor Handbook by Ruby McConnell (Sasquatch, March,

$18.95) is a handbook for out-doors-loving women, whether they’re experienced trailblazers or newbies inspired by Cheryl Strayed’s Wild.

FOOD/DRINK

Two crowd-pleasing dishes
get the gift-book treatment in
Fries! An Illustrated Guide to the
World’s Favorite Food by Blake
Lingle (Princeton Architectural Press,
April, $16.95) and Where to Eat Pizza
(Phaidon, April, $29.95), a global guide
to the world’s other favorite food.

Chronicle’s Bach says that cocktail and appetizer titles make popular gift titles

“both for people who want to give hosts gifts, and those who need to plan a quick, easy party.” The New Cocktail Hour: The Essential Guide to Hand-Crafted Drinks by André Darlington and Tenaya Darlington (Running Press, April, $22) stirs together the history, trends, and techniques of mixing up cocktails at home. Southern Appetizers: 60 Delectables for Gracious Get-Togethers (Chronicle, May, $19.95) offers up party-food recipes with a Southern twist.

FOR HIM

Bach of Chronicle says, “I can’t tell you
how many people come in asking
for titles for boys and men.
They want that perfect signature
men’s gift, and I love being able
to quickly put those books in
buyers’ hands.”
Within this category, Bach
says booze is always very strong.
Chronicle titles include Drink
Like a Man, from the editors of
Packaged in a flexibound format with
rounded corners, Dad Hacks: Helpful
Hints to Make Life Easier by Dan Marshall
(Harper Design, May, $15.99) offers fully
illustrated, easy-to-follow DIY solutions
for common problems fathers face everyday,
such as reheating leftovers and dealing with
rusty razor blades.

Men’s fashion designer Mark McNairy offers his irreverent take on sartorial history in F**k Ivy and Everything Else (Harper Design, Feb., $29.99). Elizabeth